Man named Edward Cocaine gets his drug charge dropped

(Photo courtesy of the Broward…)

May 21, 2014|By Mike Clary, Sun Sentinel

Who could blame Edward Cocaine for feeling high on life this week?

Prosecutors have dropped a drug possession charge the Fort Lauderdale man faced, saying they would not go forward with allegations that Cocaine had alprazolam (Xanax) when pulled over last month in a traffic stop.

"I'm very happy," Cocaine said Wednesday. "Naturally high."

Cocaine and his unusual last name prompted double-takes and chuckles in Broward bond court April 15 when he came up on the charge before County Judge John "Jay" Hurley.

"What?" said a surprised Hurley when the bailiff called the defendant's name.

"My last name is Cocaine," proudly declared the 34-year-old man at the lectern. His name was indeed legal and on his driver's license.

Cocaine explained his name's origin. "My great-grandparents came over here from Greece and they changed it," he said.

Added Cocaine: "I've been stuck with it ever since. Back then they didn't know."

Courtroom video of Cocaine's appearance and the story of his arrest went viral on the Internet.

"Pretty cool," said Cocaine. "I was famous for a minute."

At the time, Hurley released Cocaine on his own recognizance.

Cocaine, who works with his father in a metal refinishing business, said he obtained a prescription for Xanax after he fell off a ladder and injured his back.

When stopped by police in Pembroke Pines for driving with an obscured license plate, Cocaine said he had the Xanax pills in a different bottle. "I don't feel like I committed a crime," he said.

Cocaine's attorney, Brad Cohen, said prosecutors agreed to drop the charges when Cocaine was able to produce a prescription for the drug that was old but still valid. "On the bottle it says, 'Take as needed,'" said Cohen.

Cohen said he would try to get a traffic charge dismissed as well. "The license plate was a little obscured by a potato chip bag or some trash that had blown up there," he said.